You recall a kerfuffle over the fact that if you use X11 on a system you are no more secure than X11 is (which is to say, not very). Snaps do not allow one single system-wide X11 server, so that particular flaw is avoided.

It is not coincidence. It's planning on the part of Canonical and nVidia.

If you want to try out Compiz, it ships as the flagship desktop on Ubuntu. Just install Ubuntu and off you go. Canonical's Unity desktop is a plugin to the Compiz window manager. I use it -- and the cube switcher, and wobbly windows -- every day. It's still maintained, and will still be the flagship desktop for Ubuntu 16.04.

Well, to be fair, there are big flashing lights and a click-through on installing Ubuntu warning you that your search queries will be sent somewhere, and a single button to disable it that isn't obfuscated or hidden.

Claiming that telling you about something and forcing you to acknowledge it is "hiding it" and then crowing about your righteous refusal to use it on that basis is just being a drama queen.

Today's market demands software developed at internet speeds, and Scrum is the magic silver bullet that delivers. Based on interchangeable faceless engineers performing at consistent top velocity and colourful, simplistic graphics that even a top manager can understand at a single glance, new web pages can be delivered at web scale in little to no time with a minimal commitment.

Of course, the elephant in the room is that 80% of all software development is maintenance (remember, every line of code typed by a trained monkey enters maintenance immediately). Also, a web page or other UI veneer is only the top of the iceberg of software development and accounts for maybe 1% of software.

So, while Scrum and other rigid Agile product are great for a lot of managers to grasp because of the slick webinar presentations so readily available while playing that red jack on the black queen, the reality is they don't really deliver. Turns out there is no easy substitute for good planning and effective management for any task of more than basic complexity.

The inventors of Unix would be at home in my development environment: Bourne shell, vi(m), make. Unchanged for 30 years, still going strong. Consider that it was used to develop Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.

If they don't realize that they need to defend their freedom, soon they won't have any.

But they do expect a trophy just for showing up.

I want to fell the bones snap as I pull the limbs apart. I want to roll the veins around my mouth with my tongue and feel the warm blood as it dribbles down my chin. I want all the round pinkish brown rubbery bits from inside (except the bit with the gravel and the greenish-purple wobbly bit, it doesn't taste good). I want to use those claws to pick the feathers from between my teeth when I'm done.

It's finally the year of Linux on the breastop!

My dog has no nose.

How does he smell?

Terrible.

Turns out being a COBOL programmer isn't a guaranteed job for life in the age of the Cloud.

There's no point in telling the younger folk anything, they already know it all. Wait until they're older with a little more experience and find out they still have much to learn.

No, perfect pitch is where you toss a banjo into a dumpster and it hits the accordion.

Ubuntu already saw the light and is pushing even harder towards convergence.

With Microsoft announcing their going to have different UIs for different form factors, and Apple going as far as having completely different OSes under thei different UIs on different form factors, the only true convergence story left standing is Ubuntu. One Unity, one experience, on all different form factors.

Let the market decide.

As a Candian I... uh....

I'm sorry.